Context No. 3687 of 4322 · 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 11:1-10: in context

1Be imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ. 2Now I praise you, brothers, that you remember me in all things, and hold firm the traditions, even as I delivered them to you. 3But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. 4Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head. 5But every woman praying or prophesying with her head uncovered dishonors her head. For it is one and the same thing as if she were shaved. 6For if a woman is not covered, let her hair also be cut off. But if it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut off or be shaved, let her be covered. 7For a man indeed ought not to have his head covered, because he is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of the man. 8For man is not from woman, but woman from man; 9for man wasn’t created for the woman, but woman for the man. 10For this cause the woman ought to have authority over her own head, because of the angels.

This passage addresses a specific custom of head coverings in Corinthian worship, and much of it is bound up with the culture of that time and place. We read it carefully, distinguishing the local, cultural instructions from the enduring truths beneath them.

Two enduring things stand out. First, Paul roots everything in a chain of headship: the head of Christ is God, and the head of man is Christ. Even Christ, in his mission, willingly submits to the Father; headship in Scripture is not about superiority but about loving order and source. And second, Paul is concerned that worship be conducted with dignity and mutual honor, that men and women in the church relate rightly, honoring one another and God. Importantly, just after this passage, Paul insists that in the Lord woman is not independent of man, nor man of woman, and that all things are from God. The deeper point is not the rank of one over another but a God-given order of loving relationship, in which all find their source in God.

Beneath the cultural particulars, do I honor the God-given order of loving relationship in which Christ himself submits to the Father, and do I treat others in the community with mutual honor before God?

Sources

1 Corinthians 11:3: "The head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God."
1 Corinthians 11:1: "Be imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ."
1 Corinthians 11:11-12: "Neither is the woman independent of the man, nor the man independent of the woman, in the Lord... but all things are of God."